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I know the feeling. I joined an experienced playgroup in the first edition and lost big in my first 15 games or so. I was pretty extatic when I only lost by one or two points.

A few of my opponents took some time after the game to explain some moves they did and why as well as describing which of my moves had them worried and such. I also spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I should have done differently and reading up on how models worked to try and counter them next time. It helps if opponents are nice enough to play the same master against you in several games.

At the end of the day there are just some models that don't fit a certain player's play style so a crew switch can make a difference.

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Your own crew and actions are probably the most important. Every last ap needs to adhere to your plan for winning and you need to think about how a model is going to help you win from the deployment phase until the last action of the game. Attacking a model just because you can is a waste of ap unless you need to kill it for vp or to stop enemy vp. Slowing a model down by using a model that can't score you vp is often as good as or better than killing becausr it takes less ap.

If you have a scheme where you need to kill enemy models look at if you can reliably do that. If you can't ignore armour and they have a lot of armour on models you need to kill to score it is better to take a marker scheme and use a tough model to walk in and engage them instead of shooting and not really accomplishing anything.

Stuff like that is how you win. Leveticus usually has a lot of models who can just take punches so your really important models will be those useless little 3-4 ss buggers that are just suppose to walk around and drop markers. It is easy to get stuck cheating high cards to save a model you don't really need to save instead of saving them for that leap that needs to be successful for you to score vp that turn. Managing action points, threat ranges and good cards is usually what separates a really good player from a beginner.

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Can't say I'm happy to hear it, but thank you for detailed explanation. Looks like I need to answer for more abstract question "is it game for me", rather then "what list should I use".

I guess the question is what do you want from a game?

If you think malifaux has what you want, but your current crop of opponents are just too good for you at the moment, then it might be an idea to try and find some other opponents.( don't leave that club, just also look elsewhere for extra games). I find a lot of my local tournaments have a wide range of skill levels and because it's Swiss pairing You should be facing people of similar skill level before the end. Hopefully your local area has similar.

I hope you do stick with it, and get good enough to challenge and beat your current opponents.

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I can relate to you from my first matches. I play mostly with the local Henchman, and boy he mop the floor with my models. As I said I have a Von Schill crew, so most of your experience sounded as a deja vu.

First, the specialist: after two matches with the other player going straight to kill him ASAP, I didn't use him for a while. A while after that I used him, keeping him safe the first 2 turns, and hell, turns 3 and 4 he burned and blasted a lot, and the henchman said "that's why I go for him first". Now I kind of consider him if I think I'll need marker removal (corpses, schemes) and he is gold against ressers.

Trapper: I preffer Hans, same cost, same damage output, but he have triggers useful for every enemy you may have (slow, ignoring armor, ignoring incorporeal, etc) and can take enemy leader's upgrades away. Try him.

Suggestion: and I know I've said this like a damn parrot: try Strongarm. Same: damage output, and can adapt to almost any situation (+2 sh; +1 dmg ml; or reflect 1 dmg to melee attackers) he can charge same as Von Schill and those two, as a tag team, can beat down almost anything.

The librarian is a very good model, her heals are nice and with a good range. The Ca attack is not that good, but with the chance of drawing more cards, deal blast damage, is not a silly joke. That with furious casting on the other side... use a oathkeeper with her to place her in range of the enemy model you want to smash, and furios cast his face out of the table.

I never use the steamtrunk, but I think It can be useful if the enemy is bringing burns, poison, and that kind of things.

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is not unusual with a Von Schill crew to go with not so many activations. I play with 6, and though is a disadvantage, with a couple of moves between VS, SA, and your sniper, you can even the activations for midgame.

Quantity or Quality, as always. but as I said, VS usually runs low on activations for what I had read, and always on my case (I play with 3 10SS models)

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and, one model that is killed ratter quick (specialist) and one that is very situational (streamtrunk), ok, they give you one more activation, but with the specialist dead you are down to 7 anyway, and if you are not sitting holding some ground or don't have the need for remove burns/poison/markers, the steamtrunk is kind of useless (for heals you already have the librarian).

I think that those two are actually good but in some special matches, like against ressers or something with nasty burns. But if not, those 10SS are kind of wasted anyway

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If you look at what people played2 years ago 7-8 activations was the normal amount. 2017 gaining ground made activation control especially strong, but 2018 doesn't have the same focus. But lots of people are still playing based on what they did last year. ( or if you're a cynic, because the people who won events last year used those lists).

I have played and won games with 4 or 5 activations, and if the right game came up, I would still consider that small a list. ( But it would do very badly in lots of games).

( You can just take peoples word that you want lots of activations, which is normally right, but if you want to learn why it's right, and when it's right, then the easiest way is by trying other ways. It will probably result in more loses early on, but overall give you a better understanding. The difference between 7 and 8 activations may not be noticed, and you are likely to notice 1 strong activation over 2 activations that don't do much for you.)